Nickel-rich cathode materials, such as LiNiXMnYCoZO2 (NMC) have received great attention as promising cathode materials, with NMC especially of interest due to its high achievable discharge capacity (>200 mAh g−1), and improved energy density (>800 Wh kg−1) in comparison with traditional LiCoO2 (˜570 Wh kg−1) and spinel LiMn2O4 (˜440 Wh kg−1). However, there are challenges hindering the use of Ni-rich NMC cathode materials and cathodes made therefrom. These include but are not limited to (i) Li/Ni cation mixing due to the difficulty in maintaining all the Ni in a 3+ valence state, (ii) the degradation of structural integration due to lattice transformation, strain relaxation and/or crack formation, (iii) safety concerns ascribed to aggressive thermal reactions between the delithiated Ni-rich NMC materials and organic carbonate electrolytes. While a number of approaches have been tried to address such problems, there remains a need for an improved nickel-rich NMC cathode material, particularly to one not susceptible to cracking while also maintaining superior electrochemical performance.